1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall or floor covering and a method for producing the same. Particularly, the invention pertains to a terrazzo floor with design inlays therein which, compared to prior art inlay floors, can be made more efficiently and less expensively.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of construction and architecture, terrazzo refers to a flooring which consists of small aggregates of marble or granite set in cement. Terrazzo floors have been used for many years. The basic principle and methods of producing such floors are well established in the art. In recent times, formulas for terrazzo floors utilizing synthetic materials such as epoxy or other resins, have become popular because they generally produce floors with better durability and appearance than traditional cementities terrazzo floors. However, terrazzo floors are well-known in the art to be labor intensive, time consuming and expensive to manufacture, and it is even more so for fabricating terrazzo floors with design inlays. Therefore, people generally forgo fabricating inlays in a terrazzo floor and content with its monotonous appearance.
The only prior way known to the applicant to fabricate inlays in a terrazzo floor is through the use of metal strips. According to this method, metal strips are embedded in a screed bed, known as a xe2x80x9cleanxe2x80x9d layer (containing no aggregates and less water) between the substrate foundation layer and the finished floor. These metal strips are so arranged that they define an isolated area with a predetermined shape. After the metal strips are put in place, a terrazzo fluid mixture of a selected decorative characteristic is poured into those areas defined by the metal strips. After the poured mixture sets, a terrazzo flooring fluid of a second decorative characteristic is poured into the space between those isolated and now set areas to form the overall floor. An inlay floor is thus formed.
The above method of making inlay floors has several drawbacks. First, it is extremely labor intensive. Each inlay area must be individually isolated with metal strips, and care must be exercised to ascertain that the shapes of the isolated areas are consistent with each other. In addition, the floor must be poured twice, first for the inlay areas and then for the overall floor. Second, it is not suitable for embedding inlays with detailed and complex design patterns. Such inlay patterns would necessarily require the use of metal stripes to define dozens of isolated tiny areas, which is not feasible if not impossible. Third, the inlays and the overall floor are not seamlessly integrated and always have metal strips in between. The presence of metal strips is oftentimes artistically undesirable and brings about extra costs.
The above drawbacks have dampened customers"" desire to have design inlays within their terrazzo floors. Accordingly, there exists a need for a new method to manufacture terrazzo floors with design inlays. The present invention is directed to this end, and provides an efficient method of producing terrazzo floors that contain seamlessly integrated inlays with complex design patterns.
In accordance with the present invention, a terrazzo floor with design inlays can be efficiently produced through the use of pre-molded inserts. The floor produced according to the present invention, unlike a conventional inlaid terrazzo floor, requires no metal strips as the interface between the inlays and the overall floor. In fact, the floor made according to this invention is seamless between the overall floor and the inlay because bonds are formed between the inlays and the overall floor, which are both made of same or similar resinous material. Therefore, by obviating the use of metal strips, the present invention provides an easy, fast, and inexpensive method of making monolithic terrazzo floors with an unlimited variety of design inlays therein. Furthermore, because inserts can be pre-made in a centralized facility or factory, this invention further minimizes the costs associated with the setups at the working place for each and every individual customer.
The method of the present invention generally comprises four steps. The first step is preparing inserts. An insert is made by pouring a terrazzo flooring mixture containing particular visual ingredients (pigments and/or colored plastic or glass chips, etc) into a mold. The molding cavity of the mold is designed so that the molded insert generally has parallel upper and lower surfaces, with the upper surface preferably containing one or more molded grooves. The insert is also molded with a design element. The design element may be embodied as the shape designed for the upper surface of the insert or in an artistic pattern defined by the grooves in the upper surface of the insert. The second step is placing the pre-molded inserts on the floor substrate (or sub-flooring) and affixing them thereto. The inserts are positioned in such a way that the upper surfaces of the inserts will become part of the finished floor surface. The third step is pouring the floor with a terrazzo flooring mixture. The flooring mixture for the overall floor maybe conventionally formulated from a resinous material and visual ingredients, one of which at least is different from those in the inserts. The floor is poured to a height that slightly covers the inserts and preferably also fills the grooves in the upper surface of the inserts. The fourth step is the polishing step. After the floor is set and hardened, the entire surface of the floor is ground and polished to expose the inserts"" upper surfaces which are now part of the overall floor without removing the overall material filling the groove inserts. In this way, the inserts become seamlessly integrated inlays showing predetermined design patterns in contrast with the overall floor.
Thus, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide relatively inexpensive terrazzo floors or other surfaces which have embedded artistic inlays.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. For example, the same method disclosed herein may be used to make individual inlaid tiles, which can then be used to cover floors, walls or other surfaces. It is to be understood, therefore, that the description and drawings are provided solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the claims.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawing and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.